RareCollections: The Studio Magic of Mark Moffatt

Record producer Mark Moffatt has been sharpening his studio skills for over 30 years. He grew up playing music in Bundaberg and then Brisbane in a string of bands including Iron Web, Spike and Stop Press. He later travelled to the UK where he worked on Denmark Street meeting some of the most famous musicians and producers of the day including Jimmy Page, Terry Britten and Eric Stewart of 10CC.

Returning to Australia in the mid 70s he began working at the Bruce Window Studios in Brisbane where they had a state of the art 16-track studio in the West End.

The Saints - I'm Stranded - Fatal Records - 1976

He'd been there about a year when a group turned up one day in 1976 enquiring about cutting a record. Moffatt lent guitarist Ed Kuepper an amp he bought back from the UK, experimented with some of the mic placements in the studio and captured The Saints in blistering form as they cut their seminal single I'm Stranded. Within a few months the original 7" on Fatal Records had been declared "The single of this and every week" in the UK music press and The Saints were signed to EMI.

Saltbush - Guess I Could Never - EMI - 1978

Rod Coe was a producer at EMI who Moffatt met off the back of The Saints record. He offered him the chance to record Melbourne based country band Saltbush because he was already booked to record Slim Dusty. Seizing the opportunity, he not only recorded them but joined their ranks playing some great pedal steel and mandolin on the album. Saltbush manager Barry Coburn was later instrumental in luring Moffatt to work in Nashville where he is now based.

The Monitors - What Will We Be Singing In The 80s - Festival - 1980

Moffatt spent most of the 80s working for Festival Records making music with a virtual who's who of pop stars of the time including Tim Finn, Jenny Morris, Renee Geyer, Mental As Anything, Eurogliders, Richard Clapton, Mondo Rock and Neil Murray. When he had some spare time in the studio he would experiment with sounds and drum loops. One such experiment evolved into the Monitors single What Will We Be Singing In The 80s.

Yothu Yindi - Treaty - Mushroom - 1991

Mark Moffatt was behind the recording of the Tribal Voice album that introduced the many talents of Yothu Yindi to the world in 1991. He travelled to Yirrkala in the Northern Territory to spend time familiarising himself with their beliefs before they began recording in Melbourne. The album contained several big hits including Djapana (Sunset Dreaming) and Treaty.